


Surprise

by AdriannaSharp



Category: Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon | Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon, Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon | Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon (Anime & Manga)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Post-Canon, Romance, hints of angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-13
Updated: 2020-02-13
Packaged: 2021-02-28 07:13:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,636
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22689796
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AdriannaSharp/pseuds/AdriannaSharp
Summary: Modern day post stars. The shitennou have returned and Minako and Kadir have been dating for a little while. Here's a fluffy, defining moment of their relationship.
Relationships: Aino Minako/Kunzite
Comments: 9
Kudos: 29
Collections: Senshi x Shitennou Holiday 2020 Gift Exchange





	Surprise

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Vchanny](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vchanny/gifts).



> So I organized a gift exchange with some people in the Senshi & Shitennou Mini Bang community and I had the utmost pleasure of writing for Vchanny, whose prompt was "Surprise". I hope you enjoy it and that you don't mind the super uncreative title because I am garbage at titles.

Minako stared at her phone, wondering what else she could do to kill time. The gig’s photographer spent the last forty minutes adjusting the lighting and she was running out of things to do, especially considering he kept promising he would be ready for her in five minutes. It would probably have been done faster considering he had four assistants but he banished them all to the sidelines because they apparently couldn’t do their own job to his standard. Artists.

All being said, it wasn’t a bad gig. The photographer was a bit particular but she supposed artists were like that. He even had her try on three ‘different’ purple dresses. Apparently the shades of purple were different and the hemlines varied but even with Minako’s discerning eye, she couldn’t tell the difference. Would a different shade of purple really make a difference selling perfume?

She flipped through her usual apps, but she had already seen everything. To be honest, she was just distracting herself from checking her texts. No, there was no new message, the lack of notifications made sure of that. But still, she found herself clicking on the thread with Kadir’s name on it.

No, he hadn’t responded. Not that she was expecting a reply within twenty minutes, or anything. She was just excited. They hadn’t seen each other much in the last week due to their conflicting schedules but they were both finally free that night to have dinner together.

_Wanna meet at your place or at the restaurant?_

That was still the last message between them. No dots to indicate he was typing, just nothing. He must have been tied up at work.

Her finger selected an orange heart emoji but her finger hovered over the send button. She considered those orange hearts to be her trademark and she sent them to practically everyone in her group but she still hadn’t sent one to Kadir yet. Was it weird to send someone a heart emoji when the L word hadn’t even been spoken between them yet?

The shitennou returned almost six months ago, turning everyone’s worlds upside down, especially Minako’s. Feelings she thought she dealt with came roaring back. She couldn’t even be in the same room as Kadir without crying for over a week. Once she could finally look at him and handle her emotions, they talked. Small comments became chit chat, chit chat became small talk, and small talk became conversations. They talked about old memories and got to know each other as these whole new people.

Because they were.

Whole new people.

Well, to an extent. She felt like they were both a bit softer now. They both still carried their baggage but apparently growing up without having a kingdom on your back makes you a little more relaxed. He was a bit slower to anger and quicker to laugh than she remembered Kunzite to be.

She knew that she was different too. Sure, when she first found Usagi, she worried over her even more than she did back then. But Usagi proved herself to be more than capable of taking care of herself in this life whereas Serenity was a bit more fragile. And Minako was, well, more relaxed in this life, even after fighting the Dark Kingdom by herself for over a year.

He was surprisingly easy to open up to about all that and she suspected it was because she knew how much baggage he carried too.

It was three months after his return that she asked him out on a date. After his initial shock disappeared, he accepted.

From there, they got to know each other better. But they both agreed to take it slowly to try and keep old feelings mixing with new. And he kept a firm hand on their physical relations. He was right of course. Too much could be lost by rushing their relationship. They finally had the chance for a peaceful life together and she didn’t want to lose it.

Even if they had different roles in this life, even if they were different people, there was still something about him that drew her to him. And she wanted to hold on to that. She just hoped that it wasn’t the resemblances and memories that kept them together.

Movement out of the corner of her eye caught her attention. He texted back!

_I’m so sorry. Things are hectic here and I won’t be out of here until at least 8. Raincheck?_

Minako’s face turned into a pout but typed _Sure. Hope they don’t keep you too late._

Well, that was one thing Kadir had in common with Kunzite, very serious about work. He had been working incredibly hard lately. After finding Mamoru, he put in a transfer to Tokyo and, to Kadir, that meant that he had to prove himself and that he had to work twice as hard. She was sure that even when he got home, he would still be thinking about work.

He needed a distraction.

She smiled.

Fortunately, distraction was Minako’s middle name.

-

Minako surveyed her work. It was good, considering her limited time and resources. The shoot ran a bit later than she expected and she didn’t get to Kadir’s apartment until after six. But after emptying a cupboard and his bedroom of supplies, she had what she needed. Fortunately, she also made a stop on the way to pick up a few essentials that she was sure he wouldn’t have.

A quick check of the time confirmed that it was almost 8:00. She couldn’t text him without arousing too much suspicion of her plan so she would have to wait. Take out would arrive soon and she hoped he wouldn’t be too far behind so the food wouldn’t get too cold.

All she had to do now was wait.

-

Kadir rubbed the back of his neck, hoping to alleviate the sore muscles. There was only so long one person could sit in a meeting room chair without developing a kink in their neck.

Fortunately, he was almost home and he looked forward to a comfortable couch and running over his notes once or twice more. He wanted to be prepared since his company was expanding and the more he knew by heart, the better off he would be.

In one seamless motion, he pulled out his keys, scanned the fob, and entered his building. He only paused when he entered the elevator and saw that someone else was approaching so he held the door.

Judging from the uniform and the bags, it was a delivery driver with some of the most delectable food he smelled all week. Unfortunately, his current salary didn’t give much opportunity for takeout. He had homemade leftovers in the fridge that he should eat to fit his budget.

The elevator dinged at his floor and both stepped out. The driver paused to double check the address but when he resumed, he followed Kadir all the way to his door.

“Can I help you?” he asked, turning around.

“Yes, I have a delivery for unit 1267.”

Kadir looked at the driver and to his own door. “This apartment?”

He looked at his receipt and back up to Kadir. “Yes. Would you like to pay by cash or card?”

“I didn’t order any takeout. You must have the wrong suite.”

The delivery guy shrugged and reached past Kadir to knock on the door. “Receipt says 1267. I gotta do my own due diligence. You’re sure this is your apartment?”

“Yes.”

“And you definitely didn’t order any takeout?”

“Positive.”

“Well, I’ll just have to wait and see.”

“I’m telling you that no one will answer because I’m the only one who lives-Minako?” He was surprised by the door opening but even more surprised when he saw his girlfriend behind. It. “What are you doing here?” he asked.

She just smiled her trademark Minako smile. “Bringing dinner to you. Now get inside and take off your shoes while I take care of this.”

He nodded and walked past her in a bit of a daze. By the time his shoes and jacket were off, she had paid for the food and closed the door.

“How did you even get in here? Did Nathan give you my spare key?”

She raised to her tiptoes and kissed his cheek. “I guess I could have done that too. But you leave your patio unlocked so that worked.”

“I live on the twelfth floor.”

“You forget that gravity is only a minor barrier to senshi.”

“You jumped up here?”

“Not in one leap,” she smirked. but glanced at him with a cautious look. “Is that okay?”

“Yes. Just…surprised.”

“Good," she said, her enthusiasm bursting back. "Have you eaten yet?”

“Just coffee. I have some leftovers I was going to heat up but I see that I don’t need to do that.”

“Nope. I thought I would bring dinner to you and keep you from thinking about work all night. Now come on,” she said, tugging his hand.

He followed but came to a halt when he reached the living room, which was completely unrecognizable. He was sure his furniture was still there but they must have been piled under all of the blankets creating one of the largest blanket forts he had seen in his life.

“You built a fort?”

Her head peeked out from the kitchen. “Yes. Because tonight you’re going to relax, we’ll watch a movie, and you can think about something other than work.”

He felt some of the tension lift from his shoulders and he smiled. “Thank you.”

Her face softened and she let out one of her real smiles, so warm and welcoming that it felt like he was truly home.

“Now go get changed. You can’t expect to lounge in a fort wearing a suit.”

Her head disappeared again and Kadir took that as his cue to change.

He emerged shortly after in black track pants and a plain grey t-shirt, hoping Minako would approve it as blanket fort appropriate. As if sensing him, she emerged from the kitchen and looked him over.

“Much better. Now go fill your plate. I think I got things that you’ll like. I’ll get Netflix ready and you can choose a fun movie. No boring, work type movies or documentaries.”

Kadir wasn’t quite sure what to say so he nodded and stepped into the kitchen. Sure enough, there was a spread on his counter larger than what he would have expected the delivery driver to fit in those bags. And true to what she hoped, she picked all his favourite dishes. How did she know?

The growling in his stomach knocked him back to his senses and he filled his plate.

Minako was scrolling through the comedies section when he came back in the room. She was nestled at the entrance to the fort where he realized an air mattress was poking out.

“So how was your day?” she asked.

He sat next to her, taking a moment to try and find a comfortable position. He wasn't sure how she managed to look so at ease. “Long. I heard far too many people give themselves extended speeches about what a great job they did.”

“The expansion is coming soon, right?”

He nodded. “The new offices open in four months.”

“And you’ll be at the top of one of them.”

“Not yet. They haven’t made their final decisions on management yet and I’m still quite junior in the company.”

“I’m sure they’ll see your amazing talent and give you the best job,” she said and shoved a large bite into her mouth.

“Thank you for the vote of confidence. It’s frustrating. I know I could be so much farther along if I hadn’t…”

Beryl’s name was rarely spoken but her name burned in Kadir’s mind as if it had been branded there. Fortunately, he never had to go into much detail. Minako always seemed to understand what he meant. Instead of urging him to continue, she set her plate aside and took one of his hands in both of hers.

Her bubbly tone changed to calm sincerity. “You have so much talent and knowledge. You are a gift to them and they would fall apart without you. Does that help?”

He chuckled. “A little. But I appreciate the support.”

“Always.”

He never wanted to dwell on it so instead, he opted for a distraction. “So how was your day?”

She shifted on the spot in a way he didn’t quite understand. “It was good. The photographer was a little eccentric but that’s nothing new. He wouldn’t let any of his four assistants fix the lighting he kept complaining about. Then he proceeded to ‘move’ my face until he deemed the angle perfect but I didn’t even feel like he moved my face. He just sort of cupped my chin and moved around me. It was weird.” She picked up her plate again and shoved a giant bite of fried rice into her mouth. “I guess it’s angles and stuff. I just went with it. Not like it’s anything super important or anything.”

She shifted again and Kadir stared at her. “Are you alright?”

“Fine.” Her attention shifted back to the TV and she picked up the remote in her non eating hand. “Now, I’ve narrowed our options down to a few categories. Do you want to watch a wacky romcom, a buddy road trip movie, best friends have shenanigans, slapstick, parody, or miscellaneous?”

He placed his hand over the remote. “Are you trying to change the subject?”

She bit her lip and looked down.

“Minako, what’s wrong?”

“It’s…it’s just my job.”

“What about it? Is something wrong with it?”

“No. I’ve been loving it. It’s just…so different from what you’re doing.”

“And that’s bad?”

“Well, yeah.” She put her plate back down and tucked her legs in to her chest. “You’re achieving all these really great, interesting things and…”

She didn't pick up her words again and he tried to fill in the blanks. “Are you interested in a career change?”

“No. It’s not that. It’s our different worlds. For jobs, you know? We had such similar roles, you know, back then. But we’re so different now. Sure, we’re still protecting the people we love but that’s not…the world is…is this making any sense?”

“Are you saying that you’re worried that in this life we don’t have as much in common anymore?”

She looked up at him, the worry clear in her eyes. “Is that so unbelievable? I mean, sure, Usagi and Mamoru can have a love that transcends lifetimes but how often can that really happen? I’m not Venus and you’re not Kunzite. We’re different people now. What if we don’t fit together anymore? I don’t want to stay together if we’re only seeing each other for the people we used to be.”

He brushed the hair behind her shoulder and cupped her face. “I know that on some levels we’re still getting to know each other. But I don’t love you because you have Venus’ memories." Her eyes widened and her lips parted ever so slightly. "It’s true," he continued. "We are different people but I love you for who you are now. After all, you broke into my apartment to build me a blanket fort because you knew I had a long day. That is strictly a Minako thing to do and it turned out to be exactly what I needed.”

Somehow she managed to flicker between staring directly at him and looking just over his shoulder. Did he say something wrong? Before he could ask what it was, she answered his question. “You love me?”

He could have smacked himself. How could he say that for the first time without realizing it? But...that was just the kind of person Minako was. She quickly worked her way into his life. And the way she loved was incredible. It was like Usagi. But where Usagi put all of her love on everyone, Minako chose the people in her life that she wanted to shower her love with and focused all her love on them. And he counted himself lucky that he was one of those people. At least, if the blanket fort was anything to go by.

“I do.”

“Are you sure?”

In that moment, her walls dropped and he saw the thirteen year old who fought the Dark Kingdom by herself before she found her team. The girl who dealt with more by the age of sixteen than most people dealt with in a lifetime. “Positive. You’re amazingly resilient and still somehow manage to stay positive despite everything you’ve been through. And I look forward to finding out all the other reasons I should love you.”

He pulled her face towards his own and kissed her gently. Her kiss was addictive. She tasted like ginger chicken and somehow, she always tasted a bit like oranges.

“Thank you,” she said as she pulled away. Then she stared at him, into his eyes and pushed back the hair from his face. It was as if she was studying him and he stayed as still as possible. Then, she pulled his face in and kissed him again. When she pulled away again, it was just barely. She kept her eyes closed and pressed her forehead to his.

“I love you too.” Her voice was shaky, but it slowly became smoother. “I didn’t want to say it too early or something. I wanted to make sure of that too. That I loved you for you. Your laugh always makes me smile. When I’m grumpy and you tease me, it always makes me feel better. I love that your smile comes easier than it used to. I love…I love the way you make me feel. Me, Minako. Not Venus. Does that make sense?”

Keeping his forehead against hers, he tangled his fingers into her hair to cradle the back of her head and said, “Of course it makes sense.”

She let out a heavy breath and pulled away. She looked up at him properly and he saw tears in her eyes. She laughed to cover her embarrassment and tried to wipe them away without him seeing.

“Sorry to be such a downer. Tonight was supposed to be about making you think less about all the serious stuff.

He wrapped his arm around her waist, pulling her in close. He took it as a good sign that she rested her head on his shoulder. “Never apologize for saying what’s on your mind. That’s what will help this relationship along. I love you and I plan on standing by that.”

“Thank you,” she said, scooting even closer to him. “Thank you for putting up with my crazy.”

While self-deprecating, she said it with a hint of humour and he took that as the cue to change the subject. “Always. And I look forward to learning more about your crazy.”

She blinked away the last of the tears and a bit more life came back to her eyes. “That’s dangerous, you know. That involves getting familiar with my boy band phase.”

“Then I will have to supplement with stories of my terrible acne.”

Her voice gained its usual enthusiasm again. “Liar. Your face is too nice for you to be an acne kid. Tell me something that’s embarrassing and real.”

“And a boy band phase is embarrassing for you? Every girl I knew went through a boy band phase.”

“Please. Have you met me? My inhibitions are a lot stronger now than when I was a kid.”

“You have inhibitions?”

“Shut up,” she teased before lovingly elbowing his stomach and pushing them both back.

His attention was taken by the roof of the fort and gestured up with his chin. “Are those Christmas lights?”

“Of course. The fort needed some whimsy.”

“Where did they come from?”

“I picked them up on the way.”

“And the stars?”

“I made them. I didn’t have enough time to look all around town to find proper ones so I did it myself.”

He kissed her brow before he noticed something else. “Are those the sheets from my bed?”

“You went to your room to change. You didn’t notice that your sheets were missing?”

“…no. Now, where will I sleep tonight?”

“You can put the sheets back on.”

“Why is that my job? You were the one who pulled them off. You should be the one to remake my bed.”

“Or you have a perfectly good bed right here.”

“Are you suggesting that I, a full grown adult, sleep in the fort?”

“Of course. Why not?”

“It seems rather silly.” He stared at the lights on the ceiling and the cut out golden stars. Then he looked back at her. “At least by myself. Maybe you should join me.”

It was the first time an overnight invitation in their relationship had been brought up. He was hesitant to mention it before. He had been so careful to keep their relationship appropriate until the right time. And right now certainly seemed like the right time.

“I like the sound of that,” she said.

He rolled to his side and pulled her tighter into him until she was firmly the small spoon.

Eventually they would get back to the movie and return to their take out but for now, this was a moment he would cherish. Wrapped up in a blanket fort with the woman he loved in his arms was pure bliss. In the years to come, he would look back on this as the moment their lives truly began together. He brushed her hair away and kissed her neck. Minako and Kadir. He liked the sound of that.


End file.
